Cake inserter



June 23, 1953 E. DAVIS, JR., ETAL CAKE INSERTER 3 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed April 28, 1950 INVENTORS EUGENE LESLIE DA Vl$,JR. a BYMAURICE EDWARD KALEN ATTORNEY 3 sheets sheet 2 E. L. DAVIS, JR, ETAL CAKE INSERTER June 23, 1953 Filed April 28, 1950 ATTORNEY 4 INVENTORS EUGENE LESLIE DA V/5,JR.8 BYMAURICE EDWARD KALEN am; am

June 1953 E. L. DAVIS, JR., ETAL 2,642,655

CAKE INSERTER 3 Sheets-Sheet 3 INVENTORS EUGENE LESLIE DA VI$,JR. 8

MAURICE EDWARD KA LEN Filed April 28, 1950 ATTORNEY Patented June 23, 1953 I CAKE :INSERTEIBI 1 Eugene Leslie Davis, Jr., Beach; and Maurice Edward Kalen, Richmond; Va., assignors to E. I.

. du Pont de Nemours & Company, Wilmington,

Del., a corporation of Delaware ApplicationAp ril 28, 1950-, Serial No. 158,674

This invention relates to apparatus for placing expandable inserts in bucket cakes of rayon.

Since almost the beginning of the bucket spinning process of making rayon yarn, bucket cakes have been inserted either before washing and liquid processing or after drying and before unwinding. The eXpandable inserts used have been squeezed together by hand, placed inside the cake annulus and released to their expanded position, thereby pressing against the inner wall of the cake and supporting it. Over the years, the size of the spin cake has increased from a matter of about one-half pound to three pounds or more of dry yarn, and the wet acid cakes are of the order of three or four times these weights. To support a large acid cake satisfactorily, the insert must be quite stiff, and collapsing these larger, stiffer inserts by hand and hand-inserting them in the cake has brought about a reat deal of yarn damage and loss, or degradation, of production. It has, therefore, been considered desirable to provide mechanical means for placing the collapsed insert inside the cake so as to avoid slidin it across the inner-yarn windings.

It is, therefore, an object of this invention to provide a device for inserting'an expandable insert into a cake of rayon without disturbing the inner windings of yarn and of sufficient stifi ness to retain the inner windings of yarn in their places. Other objects will be apparent from the description that follows. a

These objects are accomplished by an inserter comprising a collapser which compresses the support to be inserted into a package and an inserting tube which draws the collapsed support from the collapser into the core or cavity of the package and releases it there. The inserttheri automatically expands in the cavity and-supports the inner wall of the package.

The invention will be more clearly understood by reference to the following figures, given for illustrative purposes only and of which Figure l is a side view of the device of this invention portably mounted;

Figure 2 is an end view taken on line-2-2 of Figure 1 showing the jaws of the collapser open; Figure 3 is taken on line 3-3 of Figure 1;

Figure 4 is taken on line 44 of. Figure 1;

Figure 5 is a sectional side view of the inserting tube which has passed through the cake and over the insert;

Figure 6 is a view similar to Figure 5 but showing the inserting tube in position to release the insert within the cavity; r

1 Claim. (01. 29-234) Figure '7 shows the insert properly set in and Figure 8 is taken on lines 88 of Figure 5 to show the snubber. I

Referring to Figure 1, the insertl is normally a perforated, expendable metal sheet, having a shape conforming to that of the core of the package 2 to be supported. The insert I is placed in the collapsing fingers 3 of collapser 4 and the cake 2 to be inserted is placed in the saddle 5. The electric button 6 is then pressed to actuate the solenoid 1. This solenoid then trips the single revolution clutch 8, so that the shaft 25 makes one complete revolution and stops. During this revolution the cams 9 close the collapsing fingers 3 and the gear l0 turns the gear ll, moving the arm l2 downward and pulling the tube I3 forward. The inserting head l4, driven by cable 36, slides over the insert I just before the cams 9 cause the collapsing fingers to open. When the fingers have opened, arm l2 moves back to an upward vertical position influenced by weight l5 due to the fact that teeth have been removed from a portion of gear I0 to cause the gears to lose contact and leave gear H free to turn. The head I4 is then simultaneously withdrawn to original position by weight l5 and the insert is extracted by the impact of extractor rod I6 against a stop ll. The cycle is now complete. Two fingers, 31 and 38, respectively are located on gears I0 and II to cause the gears to re-mesh at the start of a new cycle. The mator I9 drives through a speed reducer 20 to a slip clutch at 2|. The entire device may be mounted, if desired, on a truck 22.

The collapsing part of the mechanism is shown in further detail in Figure 2. endview of fingers 3 and cams 9. The-dotted lines 23 and 24 indicate the fingers and insert, respectively, in the closed or collapsed position. This position is shown also in Figure 8. The cams 9 are fastened to the shaft 25 to synchronize with the'other mechanism actuating the inserter tube l3 and rod [6. The cams 9 are rotated counter-clockwise, one full revolution for each inserting cycle. The cam followers 26 mounted at one end of pivotable arms 21 on fixed pivots 28 are connected with linkages 29 to form a parellelogram hook-up. This causes the collapsing fingers to move substantially in a horizontal direction toward and away from the center of the insert, thereby causing the insert to collapse or expand, respectively.

In Figure 3 is shown in detail the clutch =8 and solenoid mechanism which puts into operation the rotation of shaft 25 and the movements or This shows an is connected to motor l9. This driving mem-,

ber of clutch 8 rotates continuously on, shaft 25. The other part of the clutch 8, which carries the trip mechanism, is keyed to shaft 25.

Solenoid l is attached to the trip lever '33,. which rides in a step in a cam on clutch 8. When;

in the position shown, the driven part of clutch 8 does not rotate and shaft 25 is stationary.

When solenoid l is instantaneously activated by switch 6, the trip lever 33 is withdrawn from the step toward solenoid 1 and spring 34 snaps the clutch parts into driving position (for instance, by bringing about a wedging engagement between the part of the clutch keyed to shaft 25 and the revolving sleeve 31 part of the clutch). As the clutch rotates driving shaft 25, the trip lever 33 is pulled back against the cam on the clutch by spring 35 and when the step comes around to the trip lever 33 again, the driven part of the clutch comes to rest. Therefore, while the motor, speed reducer, and chain drive through the sprocket run continuously, the shaft 25 makes just one revolution when switch 6 is pressed.

As shown in Figure 4, when the machine is at rest, the cable 33 holds gear II in a position so that arm' 12 is straight up. Gear I is keyed to shaft '25 in such a position that when the machine is at rest, the two gears are out of mesh, due to the fact that one-third of the teeth are removed from gear I0. When switch 6 is pressed and shaft 25 begins to rotate, the finger 31 on gear In strikes the steel pin 38 on arm l2 and positively meshes the teeth on the two gears. As gear H rotates, arm 12 pulls the tube [3 forward by means of the cable 36. The tube 13 completes its forward travel when arm I2 has rotated approximately 160. The remainder of the vertical travel of the end of arm 12 is taken up by a spring 39 attached to the cable. When arm I2 has rotated approximately 200, gear ll contacts the position on gear H) where the teeth have been removed. Arm [2 is then freely pulled by weight 15 into the upright position and tube I3 is pulled back to the position shown in Figure 1.

In Figure 5 is shown the sub-assembly of t the inserting tube 13. The inserting head 14 and tube 13 move forward through the cake 2 for a total distance of about 13 inches. In about 11 inches of travel, the inserting head l4 meets the collapsed insert 1. The insert l slides into the inserting head is and pushes the extractor head 39 and rod [3 back about 2 inches. The machine is synchronized by the position of cams 9 relative'to gear It! on shaft 25 so that the fingers, 3 release the insert just before inserting head it begins to travel back through the cake with the collapsed insert, as shown in Figure 6. The collapsed insert is small enough so as not to disturb the inside yarn windings of the cake. When the assembly nears the end of the backward travel as shown in Figure 7, the extractor rod 16 hits stop I! with sufiicient ime pact for extractor head 39 to force the insert I out of the inserting head I4. The insert l immediately expands.

The insert snubber 40 is shown in Figure 8. When the insert I is ejected from the inserting head [4, it often tends to jump back through the cake. The snubber 40 serves to grab the insert between its rubber-lined jaws M and limit the undesirable horizontal movement of the insert, while still allowing the insert to expand. This action prevents disarrangement of the inside .threads in the cake and allows more caketo-cake uniformity of placing the insert therein. The jaws are pivoted as shown at 42 and are held together for snubbing action by an expandable band 43. The inserting tube I3 is suitably supported in any convenient manner, as for example, by support 44 shown in Figure 1.

Collar l5 is attached-to cable36 and forces the of the order of. 3 lbs. to 5 lbs. (dry weight basis) can be easily inserted with heavy gauge resilient but stiff perforated inserts that will expand effectively against the inner wall of the cake and retain the inside layers of yarn in place during centrifugal washing and/or other processing 5 steps. The uniformity and quality of yarn production is greatly improved while the cost of inserting and handling wet acid cakes of viscose rayon is noticeably reduced.

It is, of course, possible to use parts other than those described above which will operate in the same or similar fashion. For example, it is possible to make and use effectively a hand operated machine, if desired. It is also possible to use an inserting head that fits over the compressed support at the wider end than is shown. The support contained in such a head may then be inserted or pushed, byhand or mechanically into the cavity from the larger opening of the package. The automatic device described herein is preferred for its greater efficiency. The package may be of any size or shape and the insert may likewise vary. Articles other than yarn, such as ribbons, films, etc., may, of course, be carried or supported in the package.

Any departure from the above description which conforms to the present invention is intended to be included within the scope of the claim.

We claim:

Apparatus for inserting an expandable insert into the hollow core of a package of yarn and the like which comprises a support having-a saddle for holding a package in a fixed position, an insert collapser located on said support on one sidev of the package with ,mech! anism for actuating the collapser to compress the expandable insert sufficiently to fit into the core of the package, an insert holder. comprising an insert-engaging head on an inserting tube slidably mounted on said support on the opposite side of the package from said collapser for movement axially through the package, mechanism for moving the holder through the package to engage one end of the compressed insert and pull the insert from said collapser into the package, a snubber located on said support at the end of the package opposite to said collapser and adapted to restrict horizontal movement of the insert out of the package, and an extractor rod slidably mounted in said inserting tube and adapted to engage a fixed stop on said support to disengage the insert from the holder when the insert has been positioned within the package.

EUGENE LESLIE DAVIS, JR.

MAURICE EDWARD KALEN.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date Koch Dec. 28, 1920 Susen Oct. 6, 1942 Mack Aug. 26, 1947 Grant Dec. 23, 1947 Korecky Dec. 27, 1949 Barkan et a1 June 6, 1950 

